Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches

If you want a meal that everyone will love, these Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches are it!

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I think I've spoken about this before, but when it comes to Christmas gifts I often ask for meat. Or my husband asks for meat. We're weird.

I'm a bit over the lavish gifts - we live a pretty simple life but I feel I have all that I need. I have a closet full of clothes, a nice stash of jewelry, a good laptop, a nice camera...what else do I need?

I need meat.

I don't know if anyone else is in my situation, but when you cook 90% of your meals your grocery list is constantly on your mind. What's for dinner tonight? Did I put hamburger out to thaw? What prepared meals do I still have stashed in my freezer?

All of this runs through my head daily {again, I'm weird}. I've been known to ask for Target gift cards to stock up on pantry items or a Trader Joe's gift card to stock up on essentials {i.e. my love for their dark chocolate covered almonds}. And most Christmas's the husband will ask for steaks from one of our favorite restaurants and I'll ask for different cuts of meat to stock our freezer with.

Meat is expensive! {I'm sure you know that}.

But nothing excites me more than NOT having to put meat on our grocery list, so I can spend that money on other things. I love having ground beef, ground pork {for these amazing egg rolls}, bacon and roasts on hand.

And just look what I used ones of those roasts for...﻿

I made these sandwiches a week ago and I'm still thinking about them now. This is the quintessential working mom meal to make. It can sit in the crock pot ALL DAY LONG. Even if you weren't home until 9 p.m. that night it would still be perfect, simmering away in all those flavorful juices.﻿

The husband was worried they might be too 'spicy' for the kids, but our kids didn't look twice finishing off their sandwich in no time. The pepperoncini peppers give the roast such extreme flavor. There is a little bit of spice, but it is a good pickled kind of spice - just enough tang to make you smack your lips!

In fact these would be a good crowd pleasing meal. It makes a lot of sandwiches! Every fall I also make this meal twice, as a freezer meal. You can read all about it in this meal planning post. Genius idea for busy moms.